Sowing seeds for a dismal NC education

Unless the mindset changes dramatically - and quickly - in the General Assembly, there may be a new endangered species in North Carolina, a genus whose habitat ranges from these western mountains on through the Piedmont and all the way down to the sandy beaches of the Atlantic Coast. The creature at risk is not the Carolina northern flying squirrel, the Appalachian elk toe mussel or the loggerhead turtle. We're talking about the unique species known as the public school teacher.

Make no mistake - North Carolina's teachers have been under attack in recent years. The state, once known widely for a public education system that other states envied, has been losing serious ground in terms of teacher pay. In fact, North Carolina currently ranks a paltry 46th in the nation in teacher salaries.

Some of this is regrettable but understandable. Our state's legislators, like those in states across the nation, have had to make difficult choices in recent years because woeful economic conditions have left the public coffers dry. With less revenue coming in, state officials were rightfully more concerned with making ends meet than in making teachers and other state employees happy by giving raises.

More recently, however, this is not only regrettable, but it has become downright reprehensible. As reported this month by several media outlets, state revenue collections increased by 5.4 percent during the first 11 months of the 2012-13 fiscal year, outpacing economic forecasts. It would seem an opportune time for legislators to grant some modest pay raises to long-suffering public educators and other state employees.

Instead, the General Assembly is now contemplating a proposal that would mean the state would no longer provide teachers with a slight salary bump if they gain additional training and expertise by obtaining a master's degree. In addition, legislators are considering cuts that would decrease the number of teacher assistants and increase the number of students in classrooms during the first years of school - the most important time, when additional individual attention can mean the difference between student success and student failure.

Factor in a proposal that would drain tens of millions in taxpayer dollars from our schools and divert them for publicly subsidized vouchers that would help some students be able to attend private schools (including those of a religious nature), and it strikes us that what we are seeing is a series of blatant political moves by the ruling Republican Party against a profession that historically has tended to support Democrats. Some GOP legislators had threatened that payback was coming once they held the reins of power, and those threats now seem to be coming to pass.

Unfortunately, these attacks on public education really won't do much to hurt anyone's political rivals. They do have the potential, however, to do untold damage to our state's future - our children. As state Schools Superintendant June Atkinson told the Citizen-Times editorial board during a meeting Monday, North Carolina's teachers are at the end of their collective rope. They are opting to leave the profession or, in many cases, are leaving our state, choosing to take jobs in other states that are once again beginning to provide additional resources for public education.

"We need to have more conversations about our teacher salaries," Atkinson told us. "We have to find ways to show that we value teachers every day, because we do stand to lose many teachers. The other long-term effect is we will not be attracting young people to go into the teaching profession."

Let's face it - no one becomes a schoolteacher expecting to get rich. Nor do they get into the line of work expecting year after year of stagnant salary, eroding benefits, increases in class sizes and cuts in funding for classroom support, all at the same time they are facing intense scrutiny, criticism and expectations.

None of this is to say that our state's public education is perfect. It is not. Nothing is.

Nevertheless, those who teach our children deserve better. The General Assembly should provide them with better, or we can add our state's future to the endangered species list. Nothing threatens the state's future more than an uneducated citizenry and workforce.

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Sowing seeds for a dismal NC education

Unless the mindset changes dramatically ? and quickly ? in the General Assembly, there may be a new endangered species in North Carolina, a genus whose habitat ranges from these western mountains on